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Australia vs United Kingdom

On research quality in 2022-now, The United Kingdom ranks #4 in the world and Australia #6, of 189 countries. Australia stands higher in 3 of the 26 fields both publish in, the United Kingdom in 23.

Australia

World rank, 2022-now
#6
#8 all time
Works, 2022-now
343k
fractional
Top-10% rate
25.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
40%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Research and Theory, Public Administration, Medical Terminology.

United Kingdom

World rank, 2022-now
#4
#2 all time
Works, 2022-now
727k
fractional
Top-10% rate
21.8%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
37%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Medical Terminology, Classics, Space and Planetary Science.

Who leads in each field?

Australia stands higher in 3 of 26 fields, United Kingdom in 23. Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Australia 323 United Kingdom
  1. #7Agricultural and Biological Sciences#6
  2. #13Arts and Humanities#4
  3. #6Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#3
  4. #8Business, Management and Accounting#2
  5. #3Chemical Engineering#5
  6. #14Chemistry#7
  7. #4Computer Science#3
  8. #5Decision Sciences#3
  9. #10Dentistry#8
  10. #7Earth and Planetary Sciences#3
  11. #7Economics, Econometrics and Finance#3
  12. #7Energy#6
  13. #5Engineering#3
  14. #5Environmental Science#4
  15. #3Health Professions#5
  16. #7Immunology and Microbiology#3
  17. #6Materials Science#4
  18. #16Mathematics#5
  19. #8Medicine#5
  20. #6Neuroscience#3
  21. #9Nursing#14
  22. #11Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#4
  23. #10Physics and Astronomy#4
  24. #5Psychology#4
  25. #7Social Sciences#4
  26. #3Veterinary#2

Standing is the percentile of world rank within each field, 2022-now; the printed number is the rank itself. A dash means the field is too small there to rank. How sides are compared.

How has their output grown?

100k200kUnited Kingdom190k in 2025Australia88k in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works per year. The latest, partial year is left off.

Which publishes more research, Australia or United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom publishes 2.1× as much research as Australia in 2022-now (727k against 343k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Australia or United Kingdom?

25.4% of Australia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 21.8% for the United Kingdom.

Which institutions lead in each country?

The highest-ranked institutions on each side on research quality, 2022-now. The percentage is each institution's own top-10% rate: the share of its works that are among the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. Every figure stands alone, so they do not add up to 100%.

Australia

  1. 1The University of Melbourne26.2% top 10% · 20k works
  2. 2UNSW Sydney26.8% top 10% · 17k works
  3. 3The University of Sydney24.9% top 10% · 20k works
  4. 4Monash University28.7% top 10% · 17k works
  5. 5The University of Queensland27.4% top 10% · 17k works
  6. 6Deakin University30.7% top 10% · 9.3k works

United Kingdom

  1. 1University of Oxford26.7% top 10% · 26k works
  2. 2University College London26.3% top 10% · 28k works
  3. 3University of Cambridge25.0% top 10% · 22k works
  4. 4Imperial College London24.6% top 10% · 18k works
  5. 5King's College London25.2% top 10% · 15k works
  6. 6University of Birmingham25.5% top 10% · 12k works

The number is the rank inside the country. The track on each row is the top-10% rate; the tick is the average of all institutions, 16.5% (why not 10%): teal above it, red below. The ranking is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each institution's own topics predict and adds a small reward for size, so the rates do not fall in order.

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